Labels

Tuesday, 29 September 2009

where: the monastery “St. Joakim Osogovski” located on the slopes of the Osogovo Mountains.when: October 30th (Friday), 31st (Saturday) and November 1st (Sunday), 2009. Ideal arrival is October 29th (Thursday) and ideal departure afternoon on November 2nd from 2 pm onward. contact: visionforum.rome@gmail.com for more info and full program details.

Program guests:

Stephen Whitmarsh (born in Woerden, The Netherlands, 1979) graduated in 2005 in psychology from the University of Amsterdam, specializing in psychonomics and neuroimaging and now working on his PhD at the Donders Center for Cognitive Neuroimaging of the Radboud University. Although the focus of his PhD is comprehending fundamental neural mechanisms underlying meditation practices, for an adequate understanding he also considers their cultural purposes and metaphysical premises. In collaboration with the University of Amsterdam he is continuing his experiments into the relationship between quantum physics, consciousness and brain processes, having received positive attention on several international conferences dedicated to that subject.
Dr. Sofija Grandakovska, (born in Strumica, Macedonia, 1973), PhD, Department of General and Comparative Literature at the School of Philology, University Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Skopje. Her MA thesis subjects were Intervening Aspects of the Medieval Icon, Semiotics, Theology and Abstract Art and Discourse of the Prayer. She recently completed her PhD on The Akathistos Hymn of the Mother of God in the Context of Byzantine Hymnography. Her areas of scientific interest are comparative literature and visual art, especially the semiotics of Byzantine literature and fresco painting, sacred types of discourse, anthropology, theology, and cultural heritage and contemporary culture.